Yea, similar to what OO said. Nothing wrong with that... but it made them really shady... as if everything they do for others need to be repaid in terms of favour. They gave me the vibes that they felt they should still be in the race because they not only led Bates and Anthony there but also because they helped them previously before during the leg. I may be thinking too much here... but it felt that way for me during their confessions AND from their facial expressions.

Logged

"The Amazing Race shows the best and worst out of you. But if only negative things are shown, then it's probably you. - Jobby"

I just understand they may be disappointed about helping a team that in the end (they also led them to the Pitstop) passed them in the very last second. Just think it that way, I help you and you knock me out of the race. I wouldn't be glad about that. I don't think they helped them knowing the favour would be given back, definitely.

I second David.'s thoughts. I don't think they're too competitive or negative either. I think they're realistic. Bates & Anthony are probably the strongest team left and nobody else is really doing anything about it...

I'm with Joab on this one. Too cutthroat for me. The fact that they criticized Carol and Jennifer's friendship with Bates and Anthony really furrowed my brow. It's fine to have friendships with strong teams, even though it can be potentially risky. Besides, it's not like the girls are friends with a shady team or flat out jerks.

the thing that bothers me about the RollerDerbieMoms were actually when they thought Carol&Jen was not being so wise-racers by keeping Bates&Anthony around, because Bates&Anthony would be very hard to get rid of as the race progress.

It's like they don't see that Bates&Anthony and Carol&Jen are an "alliance", just like them and Joey&Meghan. Of course Carol&Jen would keep Bates&Anthony.They're allies. Having Bates&Anthony around could probably be their downfall but at least that's one team that will help you throughout the race.

If I were to play a "piggy-back" type of race, I'd rather keep Bates&Anthony to piggy-back me obviously. what, I should keep Chuck&Wynona instead? I'd be the one ended up piggy-backing

Had it been John&Jessica still around, the Derbie moms would certainly have done the same thing, even though they knew John&Jessica were stronger and would also be hard to get rid of. you see the point, right?

Regardless on that, <3 the derbie moms, hopefully we get to see them more for the last couple episodes. It's been 9 legs and I still hardly know them

In a race around the world, the Final 3 teams started the 12th Leg of The Amazing Race by making their way to London, England, where they enjoyed a pint of the UK’s finest brew, before they hopped a flight to our nation’s capital, Washington D.C. Once back on US soil, the teams raced their way to the Lincoln Memorial where they stood in the exact spot where Martin Luther King Jr gave his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech. The teams also had to take their photo with the President of the United States (well, close enough anyway), play spy with 50 briefcase carrying agents, and play catch at Nationals Park. When all was said and done, the Roller Derby Moms, Mona Egender (@MonaEgender) and Beth Bandimere (@BethBandimere), ended up with a third place finish. The Yak chatted with the derby darling duo today to discuss their time on the race.

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The Yak: It was such a bittersweet elimination last night. Knowing that the race was over, but it was great to see you finish at the same time. You definitely did something amazing by making it to the Final 3, as it was something that a lot of the other teams wished they could have done.Beth: Absolutely.Mona: We keep saying that, “We’re number 3!” [laughs] We were proud of ourselves, though. Not a lot of people get to say that they completed the whole race. Heck, not a whole lot of people even get to go on the show to begin with, so we were definitely proud of ourselves.

The Yak: So, now that the race has ended, what did your kids think about how you did?Beth: Our kids are proud of us. Our littler ones, they were excited and loved it from the get-go. Our teenagers, last night, we got some texts from the older kids that said, “Wow, Mom! We’re really proud of you!” To hear that from your 16 year-old kid, it means a lot.Mona: Hopefully, they think we’re a little bit cooler than they did before the show aired.

The Yak: In regards to the Serving Detour, how long did it actually take you to do it? Was it as long as it appeared on camera, and was it not obvious that the menu was right there for you to follow?Mona: It felt like we were there for a week. In reality, I think we ended up finishing about 40 minutes behind the other two teams. I completely missed that menu. I did not see it at all. I just had tunnel-vision, and I knew that something was off, but I couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was. The second we figured it out, we busted right through that challenge. It was really frustrating to know that if I had opened my eyes and paid attention to detail like I said I would, we could have had a completely different outcome.The Yak: That seems to happen to quite a few teams, where you get focused on the finish line and you miss important details. We’ve seen it time and time again, so I can understand how that could happen in the heat of the moment.Mona: It’s funny. There’s this killer fatigue that sets in and you get tunnel-vision. I missed it, too, when we first got to the challenge, I didn’t see it either. We were so tired by that point. It was terrible.

The Yak: Of course, it’s well known that you’re on a Roller Derby team together. How was this experience compared to your roller derby experience?Beth: It’s funny. Roller derby prepared us for this, so the feeling of a really intense competition was nothing new to us. I mean, we may take it to a whole different level. In regards to the physical part of it, in derby, we let people knock us down to the ground, so we were prepared for being physically uncomfortable. We also do a lot of sports psychology training, so we were able to decompress and then move on when we had a bad leg or bad task. So, it definitely helped us.

The Yak: Would you consider doing The Amazing Race again or perhaps another reality based show?Mona: We would do it again in a heartbeat. If they called and said, “Fly out tomorrow!”, we’d be on a plane yesterday. It was such an amazing opportunity. Absolutely. We love stuff like this. We love competing. We love seeing the world. We love meeting all the people we did. It was so great. We would be down for anything.Beth: It was hard, and it was difficult, but to be able to do it. I mean, how many people in their lifetime get to do something like that? What an amazing opportunity. The only reality show we probably wouldn’t do is Fear Factor, just because we’d be really afraid of what they’d make us eat.

The Yak: What do you think was the biggest obstacle or fear that you overcame during the race?Mona: The biggest obstacle for us was navigating foreign countries and figuring out how to get places. We got lost a couple of times. We didn’t pay attention to detail. We definitely had tunnel-vision more than once, where we would run straight past a clue box or look at a clue and assume it says something that meant something completely opposite of what it actually did say. We just needed to take a breath, slow down, and really make sure we understood what we were doing before we got started.

The Yak: What was your favorite place from the race?Beth: My favorite was probably Switzerland. I’ve always wanted to see the Alps, so that was really cool. Also, traversing the Eiger. It’s such a famous mountain, so getting to do that was unforgettable.Mona: Skydiving in Bora Bora was such a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I mean, who gets to jump out of a helicopter in Tahiti? It was awesome. My favorite country was Switzerland, as well. I felt like I was home. I love the mountains. I love the snow. It was really cool to get to go up to the top of Europe and be on that glacier. It was really pretty.

The Yak: On the flip side of that, what was toughest challenge that you had encountered?Beth [to Mona]: Whiskey Barrels?Mona: Yeah, I would say the leg in Scotland, where we had a speed bump and then they U-Turned us. [laughs] Oh, my gosh, that was grueling. The bowling was a lot harder than it looked. It was really hard to roll a strike because that lane was not smooth. Then, to do the Whiskey Barrels at the end of a really long leg, those things were stinking heavy. They were probably…Beth: A hundred…Mona: A hundred and fifty pounds. Then, to have to roll those up hill was exhausting.The Yak: It was impressive to see you complete that task, especially after having to do the other side of the U-Turn, as well as the Speed Bump.Mona: Boy, if you could have smelled us, too. We were bad.Beth: Plus, the haggis. Oh…Mona: Yeah, it was haggis, manure, and Whiskey. It was lovely.

The Yak: What was the biggest surprise that you weren’t expecting before going on the race?Beth: The biggest surprise? Hmmm…Mona: That’s a hard question. I guess it was mainly underestimating the amount of rest that you would get, plus the Pit Stops and the hunger. You would go days without sleeping. The show doesn’t always accurately depict how tiring it is.The Yak: It makes sense, in that we see you sleep in some odd places, but we don’t really get a sense of how much sleep you’re actually getting.Mona: Yeah, you’re just catching a few hours here and there, and then on the plane. You’re racing so much and using up a ton of energy, and you don’t really get to eat. I was starving. Starving! [laughs]Beth: Mona, at one point, ate 5 cheesecakes on an airplane just because we were able to get some food.

The Yak: Did you do anything special to prepare for the race once you found out you had been picked?Mona: We did. We actually studied geography. In Colorado, there’s Red Rock, and we’re training at altitude anyway, so we would put our backpacks on and we would hike at Red Rock to get a feel for the weight. We also did a whole lot of cross training because we knew as a female team, we weren’t going to be as physically strong as some of the men that are on the show, so we did a lot of weight lifting, a lot of cross training, a lot of running. Just to get ready.The Yak: I’m sure studying the geography came in handy when it came to that last task before the finish line.Beth: It did! It was so frustrating because we knew exactly what we were looking for. We knew the order of the countries. The issue was just finding them in that huge ball pit. The geography definitely helped though. We were prepared.

The Yak: Was there a certain point when you were working on that task that you knew the race was over?Mona: Yeah, we knew we weren’t going to be in the lead when we got to Nationals Field because Bates and Anthony had been there, and Max and Katie were just wrapping up, but at that point, it was really disappointing, of course, but we knew we had to finish strong. Our family and friends would have been really disappointed if hadn’t ran just as hard as we did if we were in the front of the pack. Yeah, we knew. We knew that we weren’t going to win.

The Yak: Have you kept in touch with any of the other teams since the race has ended?Mona: We actually had a bunch of beers with Max and Katie this weekend, since we were all in New York. We talk with everybody, though. Nobody really understands what it was like, unless they were the people on the show with you.

The Yak: So, what’s next for the two of you?Beth: Mona and I are headed to Austin, Texas, on Friday. We’re competing with our team in a roller derby bout. We’re in the heart of our season right now with Regionals and Nationals coming up. Then, maybe another reality show. We’d love to do something else. Phil Keoghan has a new show coming up, so maybe we’ll put in an application for that.The Yak: It’s worth a try! You already have the inside track with Phil!Beth: You never know!

The Yak: Thanks for your time, and we wish you the best of luck with your upcoming bout!Mona: Absolutely!Beth and Mona: Thanks for having us!

Read what Mona and Beth said about their time in the game, and if they'd ever do The Amazing Race again!

Rhonda C: For Mona and Beth: Given the opportunity would you do Amazing Race All Stars?Mona: We would do it in a heartbeat no questions asked.Beth: If they called us and told us to get on an airplane tonight we would go to All Stars.

Mike G: Mona and Beth, how did you miss the sign at the Titanic in Belfast?Beth: We entered from the opposite side of the tent and we just didn't see it.Mona: When I was preparing the food and preparing the food. I was on the opposite side of the tent and never ran past it. We just didn't look around I guess.

Gina B: Mona & Beth - first off, congrats from your home state of Colo., my question for you would be how did you muster the strength to enter this race which took you away from your kids?Beth: We knew this was once in a lifetime opportunity and we wanted to show our kids that we were a little bit more than just their mom. And, we wanted them to think we were cool!Mona: Pretty much the same. It was the opportunity of a lifetime. It was hard to be away for 30 days but in the grand sceam of things I think the life lessons they learned watching their moms compete were more valuable than us being gone.Beth: I was also really excited not to do laundry and cook for a month.

Krittapast T: for Mona and Beth, what do you think made you run the race this far even if you are all-female team and you are the most senior team out of four?Beth: Age before beauty. We are tough girls. For fun we play a sport where people knock us down. We were probably the least inexperienced team as far as international travel goes but that didn't hold us back.Mona: I think we are very competitive, we are in fantastic shape and we have some good life experience under our belt. We may have made some mistakes but we knew how to push through and keep going.

Bob C: How much is luck as a factor in who wins each leg, in your opinion? Versus not paying attention to clues, directions, and so forth.Mona: It definitely varies from leg to leg. Some challenges luck plays more of a role and some challenges you need to pay more attention to details and use your brains more.Beth: Luck almost always plays some sort of a factor in the show but nobody wins the amazing race just by being lucky. You have to have all of the components: physical strength, mental ability and luck.

Mona and Beth were one of my favorite teams, but they do not earn an A in geography. They treat BoraBora as an underling of Tahiti. The real geography is that Bora Bora and Tahiti are separate Society Islands.

If there's one thing Mona and Beth did a lot of on the two-hour Amazing Race finale, it was running. After messing up the Titanic serving Detour more than 10 times in the penultimate leg, the roller derby moms mistakenly went to the White House and then ran all the way around Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. "That was our theme the whole season," Beth tells TVGuide.com. "We like to get lost and do extra running. ... I read on a fan forum that they call it 'killer fatigue' and we had it. I didn't realize it until it happened, but you really are running on fumes for days and days. The physical stuff wasn't bad for us, but you almost got tunnel vision and aren't thinking properly." Keep reading to see what else they have to say about their navigation problems, why they thought they were going to the White House and more.

Do you know how far behind you were? It was dusk when you got to the mat.Mona: I think we were 30-40 minutes behind Max and Katie. It wasn't that long.Beth: Max and Katie left the globes challenge about 20 minutes before we did, so we knew we were in last place at that point.

The leg started out pretty close and then you had navigation issues, which was your Achilles' heel the whole season. Why did you get lost so much?Mona: [Laughs] I'm actually a good navigator, but I think it was just being in unfamiliar places. There were a lot of roundabouts and long street names that you couldn't pronounce. It was just difficult driving on the other side of the car, on the other side of the road in a different country under stressful situations.

Why did you think you were going to the White House when the clue said 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue?Beth: I'll take responsibility for that. I read the address and it was 1100 Pennsylvania. And I just thought, "Oh, the White House is on Pennsylvania." And that poor taxi driver — I confused him because I told him 1100 and then I said the White House, not even realizing that's not the right number address. So that was totally my mistake. We lost like 10-15 minutes. It wasn't terrible. It was just like four blocks away.Mona: And we were so screwed up after a month of racing that we were like, "Sure, why wouldn't Obama want to meet us?" [Laughs]

We didn't see you complete the globes task. Did you have any trouble with that?Mona: We knew what we were looking for, but it was hard to find the globes because the ball pit was massive. It was hard to see when you were down inside of it. So we knew what we were looking for, but it was hard to find them in a timely manner.

Let's talk about the Titanic menu fiasco. How did you miss the huge menu board for so long?Mona: [Laughs] We had our blinder goggles on. We ran to the tent, grabbed a menu from the large menu board that had all the courses on it but we did not look up and read it. And I just kept running back and forth into the tent and I never once looked at the main board menu. We were racking our brains trying to figure it out. "What are we missing?" We had that laminated sheet with the seating chart and that had two courses, so I thought once we get these two done, they'll hand us another sheet for the other three. We did think it was odd that we were serving dessert and soup at the same time. Something didn't seem quite right there! But we couldn't pinpoint it.

Anthony did help you out.Beth: He did, but I don't think he realized he was helping us. We were just having a conversation, but as soon as he said it, I was like, "What?! OK, we're definitely missing something." They didn't show it, but I was down in the dry docks screaming at her, "We are missing something. Look around. I think there's something that we didn't see."Mona: After she said, "Look around," I found it. I was like, "Oh, my lord, I am a complete idiot!" But we only finished that leg 45 minutes behind.Beth: But it felt a lot longer. It felt like days. That tray felt like it weighed 50 pounds, and going up and down those stairs over and over again was just exhausting. I was like, "I don't know if I'll make it one more time." We did it over 10 times.

Did you think you were last, especially since you didn't see Caroline and Jennifer?Mona: Yeah. You can tell on the mat that we were shocked that we were third. We thought certainly they did the graffiti and they finished faster. But we were like, "We're going to finish this and have a good attitude."

One of your best performances was last week when you did a Speed Bump and powered through both Detours after getting U-Turned.Beth: Thank you! Yeah, we said more than once, "Thank God we're physically strong since we can't find our way out of a paper bag!" [Laughs] That was tough going against [Joey and Meghan]. When we realized that was what it was going to come down to, it was a bummer. We felt really bad. Mona and I are used to competition, so we knew we had to put our heads down and go. I think for Meghan and Joey that was a lot tougher.Mona: And we fully expected to be U-Turned and we were not mad about it either. It's part of the Race. If we had gotten there first, we would've U-Turned someone. We agreed that we wouldn't U-Turn Joey and Meghan, but everyone else was fair game.Beth: Max said it exactly right on the show: We're not friends on the show. And it's true. When you're racing, you're looking out for yourself. It's a competition. It didn't hurt our feelings that people were gunning for us.Mona: We're very friendly with everyone off the show. We were never in the other alliance, but there was never any hatred or animosity. We hung out with Max and Katie [this past] weekend and had a lot of fun with them. They're great people. We love them.

Are you surprised no one planned to U-Turn Bates and Anthony or even Max and Katie?Beth: Yeah. We did not understand why they weren't targeting Bates and Anthony. We love them, they're great guys, but two professional hockey players? You don't think they're a threat? You don't think they can outrun you to the finish line? We would've U-Turned them in a heartbeat.

Mona, why were you freaking out about getting out of the wetsuit after the bog? That was hilarious.Mona: [Laughs] Oh my God! I think it was a culmination of the stress and exhaustion. I truly do hate cold, dirty water. It was freezing. I was so tired. You couldn't breathe. I actually have never lost it like that.

I thought there were slugs on you or somethingMona: I know! I wish it was something like that. But I finished and I was fine and I completely freaked out for some reason!

What are you up to now?Beth: We're flying out to Austin, Texas, Friday to play with our roller derby team. The season's kind of kicking into gear. We've got some rounds to qualify into regionals and nationals this year. We're going to focus on the roller derby right now and then I don't know. Phil's got a new reality show he's working on, so... [Laughs]